Ladle carriage



Oct. 19,1926. 1,603,900

v. BROWNE LADLE CARRIAGE Filed March 26, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I I Mill Hill A TTORNEYJ Oct. 19,1920. 1,603,900

v. BROWNE LADLE CARRIAGE Filed March 26, 192:5 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR.

Patented Oct. 19, 1926.

U NIT ED. STATES VERE BROWNE, F TARENTUM, PENNSYLVANIA.

LADLE CARRIAGE.

Applicationfiled March 26, 1923. Serial No. 627,705;

My invention relates to ladle-carriages.

Heretofore, when a ladle-carriage has been employed for transferring a ladle containing molten ,metal to pouring positions for casting ingots or the like, the ladle could not be utilized for pouring more than one mold without moving the carriage from mold to mold except when bottom pouring was practiced. Bybottom pouring a plurality'of molds are supplied. from their bottoms with metal which has reached them through a connnon or center runner or funnel. In such a carriage, the ladle occupies a fixed position or arrangement with respect to the carriage and the track therefor, so that it can be used only for pouring molds arranged in a single row or straight line unless the ladle has more than one pouring nozzle or has other expedients differing in principle from my invention.

F or top-pouring of ingots, ladle-carriages now in use are not practical, particularly for large heats, because the row of ingot molds is too long for the space which mills can usually appropriate for such a purpose. To top-pour ingots whose molds are not in a straight line, it is usually the practice to employ a large ladle-crane which is very expensive and has to be massive to support the combined weight of the ladle and the molten steel therein. ,Such a crane adds materially to the costs of manufacturing steel, because the casting house has to be made exceptionally strong to carry the said weight, and, in case the span is great, the cost is extremely high. However, ladlecranes have been used because of their flexibility.

With my improved carriage, I obtain practically as much flexibility as with a crane, and an added advantage of rigidity which enables the operator to readily locate the stream of metal exactly centrally over the mold and avoids splashing of the metal which may occur in pouring from a ladle suspended from a crane. I can utilize my carriage to pour into a plurality of rows of molds by a single longitudinal movement thereof, whereby the length of the casting pit is materially reduced.

For example, more than one hundred lineal feet would be required for the molds if a large heat is to be top-poured from the common ladle-carriage into ingot-molds arranged. in a single line, whereas, by the use of my ladle-carriage only one-third or onehalf the space is required, and even this space can be reduced by increasingthe number of rows of molds.

IVhile Iillustrate this invention by mechanism for rotating or oscillating the ladle on a vertical axis. to obtain the results above described, I do not limit it to any definite means "for utilizing a lad-1e carriage for the top-pouring of molds arranged in more than one line or. row;

Referring to the accompanyingdrawing, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a ladle and'its carriage embodying the principles of my invention, parts being broken ofiband Fig. 2, a top. plan-view of Fig. 1 with parts broken away.

On the drawings, 1 designates a car provided with the wheels 2 running on the track or rails 3. The car has the side members 4 and the end members 5, which enclose a space in which the lower portion of the ladle 6 is seated during casting operations. The ladle has the trunnions 7 adapted to be supported in the trunnion-bearings or blocks 8, which I have shown in the present instance provided on the lower faces with arc-shaped series of anti-friction balls 9 having travel in the arc-shaped grooves 10 in the curved plates 11 secured to the tops of the side members 4. I do not confine my invention to any definite manner of mounting the trunnion-bearings on the car. Any suitable mounting for the trunnions may be used provided it permits the ladle to be rotated or oscillated on its vertical axis as hereinafter described. The movements of the ladle on such axis may be accomplished by various means. To illustrate one means, I show the rods 12 pivoted to the trunnion-bearings 8. These rods may be operated by any suitable power-means which will simultaneously pull one rod and push the other at the same speeds.

Below and between the rails 3 is the casting pit in which the molds 13 are placed. I have shown the molds arranged in three lines parallel with the track, but it is obvious they may bev arranged in two lines, or in more than three lines if the space between the rails and the construction of the car permit the ladle to be rotated sufliciently. In fact, the molds may not be arranged in lines parallel with the track, though the parallel arrangement is to be preferred. The

molds are preferably arranged transversely of the track with their tops in arcs whose common radius is the distance from the pouring nozzle 14 to the said vertical axis of rotation of the ladle. For example, the three molds beneath the left-hand part of the ladle are arranged with their vertical centers in the are 15 drawn from the said vertical axis 16 to the nozzle 14, which is directly over the center of the middle mold. As the ladle construct-ion is no part of the present invention, I have not shown the usual stopper for the nozzle 14:.

The ladle containing; molten metal is transferred by the car to the casting pit and stopped with its nozzle 14' directly over one of the molds 13. After one mold is filled the ladle is rotated to bring the nozzle over another mold in the same arc-group and so on until all the molds ot the arc-group are filled. Then the carriage is moved on the rails until the nozzle is over a mold in another arogroup. The molds of this aregroup are all poured as in the first aregroup. The carriage is moved after each arc-group of molds is supplied with metal until the metal in the ladle has been exhausted.

\Vhen only two rows of molds are to be poured, the plates 11 may be made shorter, it being understood that the plates 11 will have the correct length and positions to accommodate any selected grouping of the molds.

I claim 1. In a molten-metal pouring apparatus, a car, a track on which the car can travel, a ladle carried by the car and rotatable on a vertical axis and having an eccentric nozzle whereby the metal may be top-poured into molds in plural lines parallel with the track.

2. In a molten-metal pouring apparatus, a car, a track on which the car can run, a vertically-rotatable ladle having an eccentric nozzle, trunnions carried thereby, bearfor the trunnions, and arcuate paths on the car for the bearings, whereby the nozzle may discharge into molds in plural lines pa allel with the track.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature this 20th day of March, 1923.

VERE BROlVNE. 

